Venetian blind headrails are commonly in the form of a channel shaped rail closed at the bottom, front and rear and open at the top, and which it receives the venetian blind operating mechanism including the slat support and tilt mechanism and the lift cord guide and lock mechanism. Many different venetian blind headrail and mounting systems have been proposed for mounting the headrail on walls or overhead surfaces. Some headrail mounting brackets are suitable for use only at the ends of the headrail and some others are arranged for supporting the headrail and different positions along its length.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved venetian blind headrail and mounting bracket system that is arranged to support the headrail at different positions along the length of the headrail and which is simple to install, which firmly supports the headrail against not only the downward loads on the headrail due to the weight of the blind and the forces exerted on the headrail by the lift and operating cords, but which also anchors the headrail against endwise movement, and which minimizes light passage between the upper slat and the headrail when the venetian blind is closed.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a venetian blind headrail and bracket system in which the headrail has a bottom wall, a downwardly extending light block panel along a rear edge of the bottom wall, a rear wall and a front wall, the front wall having a rearwardly and downwardly extending front upper rim and the rear wall having a forwardly and downwardly extending rear upper rim, the rear upper rim having an upper surface spaced a preselected distance from the lower edge of the light block panel. The mounting bracket includes a rear plate and an upper plate extending forwardly from an upper edge of the rear plate, the bracket having a forwardly opening front notch means located forwardly of a front edge of the upper plate for receiving a lower edge of the front upper rim, and a depending flange on the upper plate has a downwardly opening rear notch means spaced rearwardly from the front notch means for receiving the rear upper rim. Support means on the mounting bracket includes a ledge portion spaced below a base edge of the rear notch means a distance sufficiently greater than the spacing of the upper rim from the lower edge of the light block panel for engaging a lower edge of the light block panel to support the headrail in a mounted position on the bracket while there is a clearance between the rear upper rim and the base edge of the rear notch means. The front edge of the rear notch means is spaced from the opposed rear edge a distance sufficiently less than the outer width of the rear upper rim to have an interference fit therewith when the headrail is in the mounted position on the bracket.